1. Field of the Invention
The invention provides nucleotide sequences encoding the dapC gene and a process for the fermentative production of L-lysine, using coryneform bacteria in which the dapC gene (N-succinylaminoketopimelate transaminase gene) is enhanced, in particular over-expressed.
2. Background Information
Amino acids, in particular L-lysine, are used in human medicine and in the pharmaceuticals industry, but in particular in animal nutrition.
It is known that amino acids are produced by fermentation of strains of coryneform bacteria, in particular Corynebacterium glutamicum. Due to their great significance, efforts are constantly being made to improve the production process. Improvements to the process may relate to measures concerning fermentation technology, for example stirring and oxygen supply, or to the composition of the nutrient media, such as for example sugar concentration during fermentation, or to working up of the product by, for example, ion exchange chromatography, or to the intrinsic performance characteristics of the microorganism itself.
The performance characteristics of these microorganisms are improved using methods of mutagenesis, selection and mutant selection. In this manner, strains are obtained which are resistant to antimetabolites, such as for example the lysine analogue S-(2-aminoethyl)cysteine, or are auxotrophic for regulatorily significant metabolites and produce L-amino acids, such as for example L-lysine.
For some years, methods of recombinant DNA technology have likewise been used to improve strains of Corynebacterium which produce amino acids by amplifying individual amino acid biosynthesis genes and investigating the effect on amino acid production. Review articles on this subject may be found inter alia in Kinoshita (“Glutamic Acid Bacteria”, in: Biology of Industrial Microorganisms, Demain and Solomon (Eds.), Benjamin Cummings, London, UK, 1985, 115-142), Hilliger (BioTec 2, 40-44 (1991)), Eggeling (Amino Acids 6:261-272 (1994)), Jetten and Sinskey (Critical Reviews in Biotechnology 15, 73-103 (1995)) and Sahm et al. (Annuals of the New York Academy of Science 782, 25-39 (1996)).